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Having visited Southern IL and IN in recent years, I was surprised how rural and southern feeling each area was. Beside the difference in accents, culturally, there was not much difference between those areas and various parts of Western Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
Little-known geography trivia: Illinois is only 32 miles from Tennessee. And of course it borders western Kentucky.
Compared to every city in Southern Illinois, Evansville is huge. The largest city in Southern Illinois, Belleville, is roughly 42,000 people to Evansville's 120,000. Mind you, Belleville is a 20 minute drive from downtown St. Louis. There's nothing Southern about it. More than half of Southern Illinois' population of 1.1-1.2 million lives in the Metro East, which is the Illinois portion of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The largest city in Southern Illinois outside of the Metro East is Carbondale, and it's only about 25,000 people or so.
The article you quoted is a talking about a specific section of Southern Illinois though. It doesn't even come close to representing half of the Southern Illinois' regional population. The paper you quoted isn't even available where the majority of Southern Illinois' population lives. The Metro East would be getting their paper news from the Belleville News Democrat or the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Additionally, the two largest counties in Southern Illinois are Madison and St. Clair right across from St. Louis. St. Clair is bright blue and Madison is more purple. Combined they have about 520,000 people, nearly half of Southern Illinois' entire population and the vast majority of the Metro East's overall population. People there don't consider themselves Southern whatsoever, and most would laugh at the notion.
The actual population of Illinois that will seem Southern is minuscule in comparison to the overall population of Southern Illinois, and even more minuscule in comparison to the overall population of the entire state.
While his comment was a joke, it's not too far off politically. Overall, Indiana is a right wing conservative state while Illinois is not.
So population might be bigger in Evansville/southern Indiana but prove to me the % of those that identify with "southern" vs "midwestern". Prove to me who is more hard core. Bet ya you call them southern and many will laugh at you also. Its a fair generalization to say both states have the southern feel in their southern parts.
The southern third of Illinois has a population of 1.2 million per Wikipedia!
From Wikipedia on southern Illinois: "The first settlers migrated from the Upland South, traveling by the Ohio River, and the region was affiliated with the southern agricultural economy and rural culture. Some settlers even owned slaves before the territory was organized and it was prohibited. Many areas developed an economy based on coal mining. Except for the counties in the St. Louis MSA, much of Southern Illinois is still culturally affiliated with the Mid-South: western Kentucky, southwestern Indiana, West Tennessee, and the Missouri Bootheel, and the people speak with similar accents. Southern Illinois, the earliest settled and once the wealthiest part of Illinois, is known for its rich history and the abundance of antebellum architecture remaining in its small towns and cities."
Far right conservative does not make it southern. The democratic machine has run Chicago to the ground for a long time as it has in other major metro areas. You can keep all that and enjoy it :rolleyes
Oh the so cultured people of IL LOL! Here are a whole bunch of redneck towns of the Land of Lincoln stretching up to the Chicagoland area. How about that for a "northern Alabama"?
"About 1.2 million people live in the southern tip of Illinois, known as Little Egypt, a region culturally and politically as redneck as any state in Dixie. And a fair number of the most-redneck towns in Illinois are situated here.
Further boosting our redneck bonafides, in 2003, Gretchen Wilson, raised in a trailer park in Pocahontas, Illinois, recorded the hit single “Redneck Woman,” and went on to win a Grammy in 2004"
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Last edited by WildWestDude; 03-04-2017 at 01:27 AM..
So population might be bigger in Evansville/southern Indiana but prove to me the % of those that identify with "southern" vs "midwestern". Prove to me who is more hard core. Bet ya you call them southern and many will laugh at you also. Its a fair generalization to say both states have the southern feel in their southern parts.
The southern third of Illinois has a population of 1.2 million per Wikipedia!
From Wikipedia on southern Illinois: "The first settlers migrated from the Upland South, traveling by the Ohio River, and the region was affiliated with the southern agricultural economy and rural culture. Some settlers even owned slaves before the territory was organized and it was prohibited. Many areas developed an economy based on coal mining. Except for the counties in the St. Louis MSA, much of Southern Illinois is still culturally affiliated with the Mid-South: western Kentucky, southwestern Indiana, West Tennessee, and the Missouri Bootheel, and the people speak with similar accents. Southern Illinois, the earliest settled and once the wealthiest part of Illinois, is known for its rich history and the abundance of antebellum architecture remaining in its small towns and cities."
Far right conservative does not make it southern. The democratic machine has run Chicago to the ground for a long time as it has in other major metro areas. You can keep all that and enjoy it :rolleyes
Oh the so cultured people of IL LOL! Here are a whole bunch of redneck towns of the Land of Lincoln stretching up to the Chicagoland area. How about that for a "northern Alabama"?
"About 1.2 million people live in the southern tip of Illinois, known as Little Egypt, a region culturally and politically as redneck as any state in Dixie. And a fair number of the most-redneck towns in Illinois are situated here.
Further boosting our redneck bonafides, in 2003, Gretchen Wilson, raised in a trailer park in Pocahontas, Illinois, recorded the hit single “Redneck Woman,†and went on to win a Grammy in 2004"
.
You really didn't read and/or fully comprehend the post you quoted, and you don't seem to really know anything about Illinois short of the first Google hit you find.
Little-known geography trivia: Illinois is only 32 miles from Tennessee. And of course it borders western Kentucky.
Southern and rural for sure. I don't understand why people are so defensive to the experiences of others. It is not a negative thing, just an observation.
You really didn't read and/or fully comprehend the post you quoted, and you don't seem to really know anything about Illinois short of the first Google hit you find.
Agreed. As someone originally from Illinois just across the river from St. Louis, what this guy doesn't know is a lot.
This whole redneck and dixie nation of 1.2 million people on the Kentucky border doesn't exist. More than half of them are sitting in the Metro East, and more than 500,000 of that half are sitting in Madison and St. Clair Counties alone. So many Southern identifying Rednecks walking the streets of Belleville, Edwardsville, O'Fallon, Fairview Heights, etc, who commute over to St. Louis for work
Last edited by PerseusVeil; 03-04-2017 at 11:19 AM..
Both Indiana and Illinois have very negative reputations for me. Both seem incredibly boring. Without the fantastic Chicago, Illinois + Indiana might be the most boring combo East of the Mississippi River.
You really didn't read and/or fully comprehend the post you quoted, and you don't seem to really know anything about Illinois short of the first Google hit you find.
Oh, I did and know the area good. It's you that won't admit the southerness of southern IL.!
I didn't say St. Louis area was southern, you assumed I did. Nevertheless, some will indeed say that the St. Louis area has a southern flavor. Even though a large population base is not there its still SOUTHERN in the rest of the southern IL. Same holds true for southern Indiana. I will admit it but you won't.
Riiiiight...having lived in Illinois--both Chicago and central Illinois--for 23 years, having my mother's entire family from Randolph and Perry counties, and a good chunk of my childhood friends living in/around St. Louis and a few of which attended SIU-C, I wouldn't know ~*anything*~ about the area.
Riiiiight...having lived in Illinois--both Chicago and central Illinois--for 23 years, having my mother's entire family from Randolph and Perry counties, and a good chunk of my childhood friends living in/around St. Louis and a few of which attended SIU-C, I wouldn't know ~*anything*~ about the area.
You see what you want to see then
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Redneck Galore
